The series features Duval’s focus on capturing enlargements of stunning vineyard and travel images on metal media. The process for creating these presentations sounds fascinating, even for a lay person like me who chugs along with a semi-primitive point-and-shoot camera.

Duval first prints the images on metallic-coated photo paper. The images are then fused to a thin plate of aluminum and affixed with a novel hanging system that enables the prints to be nearly flush with the surface yet display in a contemporary manner without a visible mat or frame.

Duval sometimes enhances the images with sophisticated digital editing tools to subtly alter colors and textures in order to emphasize the artistic characteristics of each image. As a result, the pieces in the show, shot in Washington, Oregon and Italy, look more like works on fine art than mere photographs.

One example: his “Harvest Moon” image, posted below. It’s actually a composite of three different exposures captured at dawn when the moon was setting over Sagemoor Vineyard near the Tri-Cities.

“So much of my imagery – particularly my wine subjects – is defined by vivid color and strong contrasts between shadow and light,” said Duval, who also shoots and markets images in other industries. “Printing on metal media dramatically underscores these features and allows me to offer a finished print that is much more contemporary in its presentation than a traditional matted and framed print. I’m aiming to capture a bit of the magic of the wine world for lovers of both wine and fine art photography.”